From La Violencia to the War on Terror: A Re-examination of Colombias FARC-EP Inside Bolivars 'Gran Colombia'

Colombia is the first Latin American country to become subjected to the theatre of United States anti-guerrilla warfare. Colombia has also one of the richest histories of revolutionary politics on the continent extending well over half a century. It is throughout this time, that Colombia has been the battleground of an undeclared civil war. Two mutually complementary causes are traceable. First, Colombia's compradores, the national business and landlord classes have waged a life and death battle against the landless poor. Second, a policy of repression and repossession has been pursued by the Colombian ruling class with the financial and military support of the USA. The aim of the US counterinsurgency has been to defeat the long and enduring struggle for national liberation by the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia ' Ejército del Pueblo (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ' People's Army, FARC-EP), Latin America's oldest and most powerful Marxist insurgency. This article re-examines the world's most enduring national liberation struggle against US imperialism as a 'forgotten war,' one which is unique both politically and historically. It explores the FARC from La Violencia to the 'War on Terror' and Washington's crucial role in the Colombian conflict.